Electrical testing device



April 29, 1958 T H. H. HAYS 2,832,930

ELECTRICAL TESTING DEVICE I Filed March 16, 1956 a. 5 lp 1 la FIG. 5.

. Inventor HARRY HOWEL us y E Z Attorney United States Patent FELECTRICAL TESTING DEVICE Harry Howell Hays, El Faso, Tex. ApplicationMarch 16, 1956, Serial No. 572,095

7 Claims. (Cl. 324-53) The invention relates to improvements in anelectrical testing device and appertains particularly to a simplecircuit testing means in combination with a portable flash light.

' An object of the invention is to provide a flash light having amake-and-break contact means, that is separate from the conventionalthumb switch and useable for testing fuse plugs, light bulbs or otherlow voltage circuits.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flash light havinga socket-like base adapted to receive a circuit'connec'ting means suchas a'fuse plug which when screwed into place will engage an element inthe casting, break the contact between the battery and the casing, andre-establish the contact between the battery and the casing through themedium of such fuse plug or the like, whereby the fuse plug may betested to ascertain if it is in good working order, by lighting theflash light bulb.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention, willappear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detaileddescription which follows, taken together with the accompanying drawingsas illustrated by way of example, in which:

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view through a combination flashlight and fuse tester, showing contact being established between thecasing and the battery through a test fuse;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, similar to Figure 1, of thebase part of a flash light, showing electrical contact being establishedin a normal manner through the battery, spring, and rear end of thecasing;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the base part of a flashlight, showing a slightly modified socket structure;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of a screw plug, suitable foraccommodation in my flash light device, for testing various types ofelectrical circuits; and

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view of a modified circuittesting screw plug,similar to that shown in Figure 4, having a volt meter included in thecircuit.

Referring now to the drawings, in which similar reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts in all the figures, my invention is hereinillustrated as comprising a flash light having the usual casing barrel1, housing a pair of batteries 2, surrounded by a sleeve of insulatingmaterial 3, a battery thumb switch 4, with sliding circuit closerconductor bar 5, reflector 6 and circumferential insulating ring 6a,lamp bulb 7, a flanged front end cap ring 8 threaded on the open frontend of the barrel 1 and a glass lens 9 retained by said ring, togetherwith a compressed coil spring 10 in the opposite end of said barrel 1acting to press said batteries into contact withsaid bulb 7; all ofwhich structure is well known and generally found in a cylindrical orbarrel type of hand flash light.

in place of the conventional open rear end of the barrel with a screw-ontype end cover cap, I provide an open ended coaxial socket ll of reduceddiameter and in open communication with the interior of barrel 1. Saidsocket,

2,832,930 Patented Apr. 29 1958 threaded for the reception of anordinary fuse plug 12, connects with the rear end of the barrel by astep or shoulder 13. If desired the end of the barrel immediately.adjacent to the shoulder 13 maybe exteriorly threaded as In to receive arear cover cap, not shown. It must be understood that the fuse-receivingsocket 11 here, shown as integral with therear end of the casing barrelmay be made as a separate screw-on part and additionally, that thesocket 11 may project forwardly inside the barrel, as shown in Figure 3,instead of rearwardly therefrom, as in Figures 1 and 2.

In order to make normal electrical connection between the battery,-coilspring, and casing, 21 saucer-like disc 14 is provided, that fitsloosely and slidably inside casing 1 and insulating sleeve 3 and isadapted to be engaged by the coil spring 10 and bear against theshoulder 13 of the socket 11, as in Figure 2, or against the open innerend of the socket 11, as in Figure 3.

When the flash light is to be used as atesting device, a fuse plug 12,or the plug part of a bulb or other electrical testing device, isscrewed into the threaded socket 11 contacting the disc 14 anddisengaging it from the shoulder 13 of the casing thus breaking thenormal connection between the battery and the casing; contact for theflash light circuit being re-established through fuse or other plug 12.

It will thus be seen that unless the fuse plug, bulb or other circuitbeing tested is in good working order, the electrical circuit in theflash light that has been interrupted bybreaking the usual spring-urgedcontact between the disc and casing will not be re-established in theflash light, and the lamp 7 will not light. When it is required to testother types of electrical circuits, a screw plug 15, having prongs 16(or'a socket carrying the terminals of an extension cord) may be used inplace of the fuse plug 12. This is shown diagrammatically in Figure 4.

Figure 5 shows a similar testing arrangement to that shown in Figure 4,with the addition of an ammeter 17 placed in the circuit. It may befound desirable to incorporate the volt meter into the structure of thescrew-in plug, in which case the plug would be a little longer.

In use, it will be seen that this flash light may be used in the regularway by itself; without any fuse plug or circuit testing appliancescrewed in the socket-like end cap. It may also be used as a flash lightand as a convenient storage for one fuse plug, included in the circuitand thus under test, as a handy and useful household appliance forlocating the fuse box when a domestic circuit blows, for testing the rowof fuses in the box and with one available fuse that is of knownserviceability. The various other circuit testing uses to which thisflash light can be put will be readily apparent to those regularlyemploying prod testers and volt meters.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be manifest that an electrical testing device isprovided that will fulfill all the necessary requirements of such adevice, but as many changes could be made in the above description andmany apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may beconstructed within the scope of the appended claims, without departingfrom the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matterscontained in the said accompanying specification and drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limitative or restrictivesense.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. A flash light comprising in combination with the usual casing, alight bulb therein, a battery-applied electric circuit for said bulb,and switch in said circuit; a socket on said casing, having its innerend in open communication with the interior of said casing for thereception of a removable plug; and a circuit breaker normally lyingacross the inner end of said socket and completely closing the passagebetween said socket and easing; said circuit breaker normally engagingand grounding to the inner end of said socket and being operable by aplug inserted in said socket to break such normal grounding of thecircuit which is then grounded through the plug to the side wall of saidsocket.

2. A fuse plug testing flash light comprising in combination, a casing;a light bulb therein; a battery supplying an electric circuit'to saidlight bulb; a threaded socket on said casing having an opening in theinner end thereof in open communication with the interior of saidcasing; and a normally-closed circuit breaker associated with saidsocket normally closing completely the opening in the inner end of saidsocketand adapted for actuation by a fuse plug screwed in said socket;such fuse plug acting to open said circuit breaker to interrupt thebattery circuit to said light bulb and to 're-establish the circuitthrough the usual fusible element in the fuse plug.

3. A testing flash light as defined in claim 2, wherein saidfuse-actuated circuit breaker includes a spring-urged contact memberdisposed across the base of said socket and normally making contactbetween said battery and said casing. 1

4. In a flash light circuit testing device, in combination, a flashlight casing provided with conventional battery, insulating sleeve,battery thumb switch, conductor bar, reflector, lamp bulb, and coilspring; an open socket of reduced diameter, on the end of said casingopposite the lamp bulb having an opening in its inner end incommunication with the interior of the flashlight casing, said socketbeing threaded and adapted to accommodate a similarly threaded elementto be tested; a saucer-like disc slidably positioned in said casingadjacent the socket end thereof and normally completely closing theopening in the inner end of said socket, said disc being adapted to beengaged by said coil spring and urged into contact with saiid casingabout said open socket to establish normal electrical contact betweensaid battery and said casing, said normal contact being broken when saidelement to be tested is screwed into said socket a suflicient distanceto unseat said disk from said annular shoulder, the interrupted electriccircuit being re-established through said element to be tested.

- 5. A flash light testing device, as claimed in claim 4, in which saidelement to be tested comprises a fuse plug.

6. A flash light testing device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein saidelement to be tested comprises a screw plug adapted to accommodate anextension cord to establish remote contact between said flash light anda further electric circuit.

7. A flash light testing device, as claimed in claim 4, in which saidsaucer-like disc is rigidly secured to one end of said coil spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,723,750 Shore Aug. 6, 1929 1,734,230 Roe Nov. 5, 1929 1,852,190 RoeApr. 5, 1932 2,205,477 James June 25, 1940

